


Intergalactic Dissonance

by Mattecat



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Homeworld - Freeform, Homeworld is Horrible, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, not all gems are people
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattecat/pseuds/Mattecat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As thanks for helping her, Peridot decides to bring Ronaldo with her when she goes back to Homeworld. This goes about as well as could be expected. </p><p>Diverges from canon after Friend Ship. Archive warnings are subject to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i don't want to miss a thing

**Author's Note:**

> im finally writing a fanfic for my garbage otp... now I said I wouldn't post this until my peridot redemption fic was finished, but, uh, hey, there's only less than five chapters of my peridot redemption fic left, it'll be finished Soon Enough. also im a free man and I can start as many new fics as I want. though four fics at once is already pushing it, never mind the ones that haven't been updated in literal years
> 
> anyway. uh. ok how do I start this out
> 
> this fic has some potentially upsetting material in future chapters, such as homeworld dystopian politics, mental health issues, & ableism. ronaldo's mental health issues are very personal to me bc his experiences as shown in the show are similar to mine, so I'm trying to write about them in a realistic & sympathetic way, but if I mess up somewhere Please Please Please let me know so I can correct myself.
> 
> anyway if you're cool with all that and you're cool with my crackship then by all means, read on

It was an ordinary day for Ronaldo, for his standard of "ordinary." He got out of bed, went through his morning routine, and had breakfast with Peedee and his dad before finding an excuse to get out of the house.

Today, however, his dad wasn't going to let him escape that easily. "Ronaldo," he said. "Why don't you help me set up for the day?"

Ronaldo groaned. "It's not even nine yet. We don't open until eleven."

"So it's a little early. You don't need to go anywhere, do you?"

"Actually, dad, I do."

His dad frowned. "What, this early? Can't your blog wait for a day?"

"It's not about my blog, Dad." He hasn't even updated his blog for, like, _weeks_. If Peedee and his dad actually _read_ his blog, they would know that.

"Well, then, what is it? You don't really have any other interests."

"I'm meeting someone." Ronaldo turned away and went to get his jacket.

"Who? You can't be going out and meeting strangers, you know."

Dad was clearly not going to get off his case, so Ronaldo pulled out his ultimate weapon. "I'm meeting a _girl_ , Dad."

His dad broke out into a grin. "Really? Well, that changes things! What are they like? How did you meet?"

"We just... y'know... met." Ronaldo waved a hand in the air dismissively. "Dad, I said I would be there soon, so can I –"

"Who is it? Is it one of the Pizza girls?"

"No, Dad, it's... no one you know."

"Why haven't I met her, then? C'mon, Ronaldo! If you bring her here, I'll serve her some fries on the house!"

"I don't know, Dad." Ronaldo pulled his jacket on, grabbed his backpack, and started edging towards the door. "Gotta go now, see you later, I'll –"

"Wait, hang on, you can't skip out on work, even if you are meeting – _Ronaldo!_ "

Too late; Ronaldo was out the door and pretending he hadn't heard him.

* * *

It was a long walk to the meeting place, far down the beach, in the opposite direction from the place where Steven lived. Ronaldo couldn't walk on the sand the whole way, so he walked alongside the road. In his jacket, he quickly started to overheat, and he would up taking it off and carrying it underneath his arm.

A car drove by with all it's windows down. Some teenagers in the back seat shouted something unintelligible at him. Ronaldo flinched, but ignored them.

Finally, he was at his destination; after checking to see if anyone was following him, Ronaldo climbed over the guard rail and carefully made his way down the cliff, until he was on the rocky beach below. He checked one last time for followers, then quickly ducked inside a cleft in the rock.

The inside was cramped at first, but soon widened out. The cave was lit up by a faint green glow, illuminating the computer guts and receptacles littered around the floor. A green figure was kneeling in front of the light, holding a piece of hardware in their hands, not looking up even as Ronaldo approached them.

"Hey, Peridot," he said.

"Did anyone follow you?" Peridot continued to look down, focused on the device she was holding. Her detached fingers delicately turned it over and over as she examined all sides of it. Ronaldo was still fascinated by her fingers, even after all the time he had spent working with her. She had told him at one point that they weren't actually part of her body – they were "limb enhancers." Ronaldo, after asking how they worked, had asked what she looked like without them on. Peridot hadn't spoken to him for hours afterwards.

"I don't think so." Still, Ronaldo glanced behind him again as he put his backpack down. "I think my dad's starting to get suspicious, though."

Peridot looked up at that, narrowing her eyes through her visor. "How much does he know?"

"Nothing! I just said I was meeting someone. He doesn't know anything about you." Ronaldo zipped open his backpack and took out his notepad. "Anyway, I looked up those locations you wanted. You said you were almost done, right?"

Peridot glanced back down at her device. "Yes. It is complete."

"Whoa, seriously? Awesome! So what do we do now?"

"I need a warp pad, and enough power to reroute the warp stream to Homeworld, as well as sustain it for that distance. But..." She broke out into a grin and laughed. "Ahaha! I finally get to go _home!_ "

Seeing Peridot so happy made Ronaldo grin, too. Ever since he had found Peridot on the far reaches of one of his scouting trips, he had felt oddly compelled to help her out. Probably because she had her face in her hands and was sobbing the first time they had met. Ronaldo didn't want to just ignore someone who was crying like that, even if they were an evil polymorphic sentient rock alien.

Besides, it wasn't as if she was a _bad_ evil polymorphic sentient rock alien. Peridot had told him, she and the rest of the rocks – _gems,_ sorry – didn't have any more plans for Earth. She just wanted to go home, and then they'd never come back to this planet. So Ronaldo had agreed to help her.

Six weeks later, it looked like he wouldn't have to help her much longer. And then his life would go back to normal.

"Ronaldo."

"Wha?" Ronaldo shook his head to clear it. Peridot was staring at him.

"Your expression changed," she said. "Is there something wrong? Something you aren't telling me? Something that could _jeopardize the mission?_ "

"Whoa, no, it's nothing like that," Ronaldo said, quick to dispel her suspicions. "Just, y'know, those complicated human emotions you're always so confused by."

Peridot frowned at him, clearly offended by the idea that she could be confused by anything. "Tell me about them."

"Wow, uh, okay." Ronaldo nervously rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, I'm happy you get to go home, so like, it's not like there's anything bad about that... it's just that my life's gonna get a lot more... a lot less... _something_ without you."

"That was annoyingly vague."

Ronaldo sighed. "I liked helping you, okay?" he said. "And I kind of wish I could keep helping you, but you've got to go to Homeworld and I've got to stay on Earth, and soon we're going to say goodbye forever and I'll never see you again. That's it."

Peridot just stared at him for a long moment. Ronaldo quickly grew uncomfortable under her gaze. Finally, she spoke. "I believe I have a solution to both our problems," she said.

"Both our problems? What's your problem?"

"Nothing! Irrelevant! Don't worry about it." Peridot put the device down and stood up, adjusting herself to her one short leg. Ronaldo had asked once why one of her legs didn't have a foot. Apparently it had been stolen. "I have an offer for you."

"Really?"

"I would like you to come with me to Homeworld."

Now it was Ronaldo's turn to stare at Peridot, his mouth dropping open. "Seriously?!"

"Yes," Peridot said. "I am serious. You have proven useful to me. It would be a shame to –" She cut herself off with a cough and turned away briefly. "Are you willing to come with me?" she said when she turned back.

"Yes!" Ronaldo shouted. "Of course I –"

"Keep your voice down!" Peridot hissed. "This is serious. You won't ever come back. Do you have any ties to this planet? Any unfinished business?"

Ronaldo thought hard about the question. He had his blog, yeah, and Peedee and his dad, but he knew his blog wasn't that popular – the single view his documentary got proved that – and Peedee was tough, he could probably handle Ronaldo going away forever. His dad, though...

Well, his dad could just hire some guy to take over Ronaldo's fry shop job.

"No," he said, "there's nothing for me here."

Peridot nodded. "Then that settles it," she said. "Give me the information."

Ronaldo flipped open his notepad and read the coordinates out loud to her. Peridot formed a screen with four of her fingers and plugged the numbers into it. At least, that's that Ronaldo assumed she was doing. He couldn't understand any of the symbols on her screen, any more than Peridot could read humans' written language. Ronaldo had offered to teach her, but Peridot considered it a waste of time.

Once he had read the last number of the last coordinate, Peridot shut down the screen and returned her fingers to her hand. "I know where to go now. All we have to do is find an adequate power source."

"I think my dad has a generator we could use."

"Is it gem-powered?"

"Uh, no?"

"Then it won't work. We need a gem."

Ronaldo blinked. "Like you?"

"No!" Peridot snapped. "Like, a gem that's been – you know, one that's not a person."

"Not all gems are people?"

"Correct."

Something about that statement made Ronaldo feel uneasy. Maybe he was thinking too hard about it. It could be like how not all animals were humans. Not all gems were people. "Okay."

"The safest method would be to use one of the experiments at the Kindergarten." Peridot frowned. "Hopefully not all of them will have emerged yet."

"Whoa, what? Experiments? Kindergarten?" Ronaldo's eyes widened. "You never mentioned those before!"

"There's..." Peridot looked away. "...a lot I haven't told you. Once we get to Homeworld, I'll request the appropriate clearance for you to work as my assistant. There'll be time then for you to learn the truth."

So she _had_ been hiding something from him! Ronaldo had suspected it for a while, but he hadn't expected her to admit it. Still, even though he trusted her after all this time of working together, he had to made sure of something.

"And the Diamond Authority really has no more plans for Earth? They're not going to hollow it out or enslave us or both or –"

Peridot shook her head. "The only plan we have for Earth is to leave it alone. Soon, we won't have anything more to do with this planet."

She smiled. "And neither will you."

* * *

Peridot insisted on retrieving the power source on her own. Ronaldo's job was to prepare to leave the next day. So he went back home.

His dad was still working when he walked in, but he called out to Ronaldo when he saw him. "Ronaldo, go put your work clothes on. We need to talk after closing."

Ronaldo sighed, but there was nothing to do but do as he was told. One more day, he told himself. One more day, and he'd be moving on to bigger and better things.

He wasn't looking forward to the talk, so as soon as work was over, he tried to escape up to his room. His dad caught him before he could. "C'mon, sit at the table with me."

Ronaldo sat down, avoiding eye contact.

Peedee poked his head through the door. "Hey dad, can I use the computer?"

"Sure, kiddo."

Peedee nodded and ducked out of the room. Once he was gone, his dad didn't say anything for a few moments, and Ronaldo wondered why he had even called him here.

Finally, his dad said, "Are you doing alright?"

"Like, now? Or in general?"

"In general."

Ronaldo thought about his answer. "Pretty good, I guess? Better than, uh, other times."

His dad smiled. "That's good! Does that girl you met up with today have anything to do with that?"

"I guess, yeah. She's... nice."

"Tell me about her! Does she have a name?" 

"She's, uh..." Ronaldo frantically searched for something to answer with. There were no female friends he could ask to cover for him, except maybe Sadie, but then she'd ask questions and he'd have to deal with that, too. "How about this," he said. "I'll bring her here after work sometime and you can meet her yourself."

"Really? When?"

"The day after tomorrow." Hopefully he'd be gone by then.

"Sounds like a plan! I'll be sure to give her those fries I promised." His dad leaned forward and affixed him with a serious look. "And you're really doing okay?"

"Yeah, Dad."

"Mental health doing okay? You remembering to take your medication?"

Not _this_ again. " _Yes_ , Dad."

"Just making sure." He leaned back in his chair and averted his gaze. "You know I worry about you, Ronaldo."

"Yeah, I know." Ronaldo realized he was fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat. He had to pack, had to figure out what he could bring with him and what was going to have to stay at home. Not that this would be his home for much longer. "I'm fine, Dad."

"Yeah." His dad appeared to be lost in thought and wasn't looking at him. "I sure hope you are."

Ronaldo took that as his cue to leave. His dad didn't stop him.

* * *

Packing was difficult. His laptop was a must, though whether he'd be able to charge it on another planet was a different story. He decided that Peridot could probably rig something up for it and stuck it in his backpack, along with the charger.

He decided not to pack much in the way of entertainment; his laptop, phone, and a notepad would have to do. He chose a blank notepad, thinking he could start a log of his time on Homeworld. He had tried keeping a journal before, but hadn't stuck with it. Maye this time would be different.

Other than that, he packed only the essentials – clothes, toiletries, a couple of energy bars he found on his desk. Everything fit into his backpack. Ronaldo picked it up to see how heavy it was. A little heavier than normal, but not too bad.

This was really happening. He was going to another planet. Ronaldo couldn't suppress a grin. It was good timing, too! The Earth government had been keeping a close eye on him for a long time now, and there was no way they could follow him into the heart of the Diamond Authority itself. Not that he wasn't nervous about that, but Peridot had to have chosen him for a reason.

Ronaldo put his bag down and realized he had forgotten to pack his medication. He groaned, wondering how he was going to get it from downstairs without his dad noticing.

Screw it, he would just have to go without it. It wasn't like he could get refills on another planet, anyway. Satisfied that his packing was done, he got ready for bed.

He was so excited for the next day, he had a hard time getting to sleep, and once he did, his dreams were filled with alien planets and strange, tall figures that towered over him and Peridot. It's okay, he told Peridot, it's okay, though he wondered why he was reassuring Peridot when this was her home, her Homeworld –

He woke up and the dream promptly vanished from his memory.


	2. i don't want to set the world on fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> posting this 7 minutes before the 3rd ep of stevenbomb 4, let's see how Utterly Wrecked my headcanons for homeworld/peridot will become

Ronaldo couldn't get back to sleep after that, so he decided to leave the house before his dad or Peedee woke up. He thought about leaving a note, but didn't. It was best that nobody knew where he was going, otherwise someone might try to stop him.

He arrived at Peridot's hideout when it was still dark out, and he had to bring a flashlight to use when climbing down the cliff. Thankfully, there had been few cars on the road, so he wasn't _too_ worried about anyone following him.

He still checked, though, just to be safe.

Peridot was waiting for him when he entered the cave, holding the device she had built with a deformed crystal pressed into the side. "You're here," she said. "Good. We should leave as soon as possible."

Ronaldo felt a thrill of excitement, and the ache in his shoulders from carrying his backpack all this way seemed to lessen. "Okay!"

"First, there are some things we need to go over." Peridot opened her screen with her free hand and poked at it, frowning. "Humans need to ingest 'food' on a regular basis, correct?" She continued before Ronaldo could respond. "That hopefully won't be an issue, it should be simple enough to synthesize the necessary nutrients for only a fraction of the material required to create a gem. It wouldn't even be necessary for long. How long is the average human lifespan?"

"Uh..." The thrill faded and Ronaldo started to feel uneasy. "Like, eighty years, I think?"

"How old are you?"

Yep, definitely uneasy. "Twenty?"

"So you're a fourth of the way there. Well, that's only if we don't find some way to _extend_ your lifespan, of course."

"Whoa, uh..." Ronaldo was having a hard time processing everything. "Can you really, uh, extend my lifespan?"

"If you prove useful enough, yes, I don't doubt that it would be possible," Peridot began pacing back and forth, still staring at her screen. "Now, humans also need water and sleep. Water won't be an issue, there's plenty of that on Homeworld, but sleep is going to be a problem."

"Really?" He knew that gems didn't sleep, but... "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"Sleeping is a sign of weakness. Weakness is _prohibited_ on Homeworld," Peridot said. "You'll have to adapt. Sleep less, if not at all. Humans are adaptable, right?"

"Kind of? I don't think I can, uh, not sleep, though."

"Well, we'll find a way around it." Peridot ceased pacing and closed her screen. "Food, water, and sleep. Is there anything I'm forgetting?"

At the moment, Ronaldo couldn't think of anything else. "I think that's it for biological needs. Except for like, breathing and stuff." A thought occurred to him. "There's air on Homeworld, right? Like, air I can breathe?"

Peridot nodded. "Yes, I have already made sure of that. The atmosphere on Homeworld is sufficiently oxygenated, so you should have no problems adapting."

"Okay." That was a relief. Ronaldo looked around, though for what he didn't know. He was starting to feel the ache in his shoulders again. "What now?"

"We leave, of course." Peridot stepped past him towards the exit. When he didn't move right away, she looked back at him. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Ronaldo hurriedly followed her out.

* * *

It was a long way to the warp pad, and the sun was soon rising above them. Peridot quickly grew exasperated with Ronaldo's recurring need to stop and rest, and finally, she snapped. "You can't stop now!" she shouted when he asked yet again to rest, just for a little while. "We're almost there!"

Ronaldo looked at where she was pointing. Up ahead was a shadowed canyon, too far away to see clearly. But the grassy field seemed to stretch on forever, and he was _really_ tired.

"Just for a few minutes," he pleaded. "My backpack hurts and it's still a long way and –"

"Fine," Peridot grumbled, and she sat down in the middle of the field, carefully putting her device down beside her. After taking off his backpack, Ronaldo sat down too, the grass rising up to his chest. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them.

Ronaldo spoke up. "What are we going to do when we get to Homeworld?"

"Well," Peridot said, in a tone of voice that suggested she had thought about this all already, "first I'm going to have to explain my reasoning for bringing you with me. Plenty of gems will want to kill you on sight, and I'll have to prevent that."

"Wow, uh, you sure did never mention that before." A trace of fear crept into Ronaldo's voice. Peridot didn't seem to notice.

"It's to be expected," she said, shrugging. "Most gems don't have a good opinion of organic lifeforms. I wouldn't worry about it. You've already proven yourself useful to me. Now you just have to do that for the rest of Homeworld."

"Do you really think I can do it?"

Peridot frowned. "Ronaldo," she said, turning her head towards him. "There is something I want you to understand."

"Yeah?"

"Everything on Homeworld has a purpose. Your purpose will be to assist me. If you fail in that purpose, there will be nothing I can do to help you. You will be trained, of course, but I do not know how long your training period will last. This is not something that has been done before. Do you still want to come with me?"

"Yes," said Ronaldo, a little too quickly. "I mean, it's a little scary," he added, when Peridot narrowed her eyes at him, "but I don't really have a purpose here on Earth, you know? I mean, I thought I did, but..."

"Right," Peridot interrupted. "The 'blogging' you told me about."

"Yeah, but nobody really... well, nobody was really interested in learning the truth. Most people can't deal with it, so they hide their fear by calling me names and stuff. I thought that with my blog I could find likeminded souls, but I just started getting weird letters in the mail." Ronaldo sighed and looked down. "I think I'll have more of a purpose on Homeworld than here."

He looked back up. Peridot was beaming at him.

"Yes! Good! That is very good," she said.

"Really?"

"Yes. You will be good on Homeworld." Peridot stood up. "Are you ready? We should get going."

Ronaldo stood up and slung his backpack back over his shoulder. "Okay."

* * *

 Finally, they reached the Kindergarten.

The atmosphere was dark, and Ronaldo felt small surrounded by the hole-covered walls of the canyon. There were no plants growing here, no signs of life, nothing but stone and dust, and Ronaldo's mind was buzzing with theories on how this could have happened. The most obvious answer was a supernatural curse that affected all living things in the area, but that didn't explain how he was able to enter without a problem. He was about to ask Peridot what she thought when she grabbed his arm and pulled him down behind a rock.

"Wh –" he began to say, but Peridot covered his mouth. Her artificial fingers felt slightly warm, which was not what he had expected. She was shaking, and Ronaldo didn't understand what was going on until he heard the voices.

"Are you sure this is necessary, Garnet? We don't know that she'll come back a third time." Ronaldo recognized that voice; it belonged to one of Steven's guardians.

"We didn't know she would come back a second time, either, Pearl," said another familiar voice. "We have to be on guard."

Someone laughed. "Man, Peridot's goin' _down_ once we get ahold of her. Pearl, how about we team up?"

"Like, fusion, Amethyst? Or..." The footsteps were getting closer, and Peridot stiffened.

"Fusion would be rad, but nah, I'm just talking about a regular team up. We can take her without Opal, I bet."

"Wait up, guys!" That voice was definitely Steven's. Ronaldo heard him run right by their hiding place, and soon all four of their footsteps had passed them and were fading away.

Peridot relaxed, though she was still trembling, and she uncovered Ronaldo's mouth. "We have to get to the warp pad without them seeing us," she whispered. "Follow me, and don't make any noise."

Ronaldo nodded, and the two of them crept out from behind the rock and deeper into the Kindergarten.

Peridot had told him about the Crystal Gems before; he knew that they were trying to capture her and do... _something_ with her. Peridot wasn't clear on the details, and she had no plans to find out. Ronaldo was a little wary of them himself – not Steven, though, Steven was his bud – so he had been avoiding them during his time helping Peridot.

Peridot walked quickly, and Ronaldo was having trouble keeping up with her. But they were close – he could see the warp pad up ahead, on a tall rock platform. He glanced back behind him to see if the Crystal Gems were close behind and tripped.

He couldn't suppress a yelp of pain when he hit the hard ground. Before he could pick himself up again, Peridot grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Keep up!" she hissed, and pulled him towards the warp pad.

They had managed to climb to the top of the platform before they were caught.

"Peridot!" Ronaldo and Peridot whipped their heads towards the source of the voice to see Pearl and Amethyst some distance away. "Garnet!" Pearl shouted. "I found her!"

"Hang on," said Amethyst, "is that a human with her?"

"Help me with this!" Peridot shrieked, yanking a roll of wires out of the device she had carried all this way and shoving it in Ronaldo's hands. For a moment, he just stared at it, until Peridot yelled at him to "Wrap it around the warp pad!"

"Human!" Ronaldo couldn't help but look back at Garnet's voice, seeing her standing behind Pearl and Amethyst. "Get away from her!"

"Hey, that's Ronaldo!" said Steven, catching up to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. "Ronaldo, what are you doing?"

Peridot pointed her arm at the other gems and shot a green plasma ball at them. Garnet grabbed Steven and jumped out of the way with Amethyst and Pearl, and the ball exploded on the ground. "Hurry!" Peridot shouted, and Ronaldo quickly bent his head down and wrapped the wires around the perimeter of the warp pad.

"Are they working together?" Pearl said, disbelief clearly audible through her tone.

"Hoo boy," Amethyst said. "Frybo, you're in big trouble!"

The two of them were approaching fast. Peridot grabbed the end of the wires that Ronaldo offered to her and plugged it back into the device. The warp pad started to hum and glow, and the device began emitting a high pitched whine. Peridot shrieked: "No! _No!_ It can't be overloaded, I'm so _close!_ "

Amethyst used her whip to grab a boulder, but Pearl grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Amethyst, no! We can't risk hurting the human!"

"Grab him!" Garnet shouted. "We can't let him go with her!"

Ronaldo covered his ears; the noise of the device was unbearable. He glanced at it and saw sparks flying from it. "Uh, Peridot?"

Peridot ignored him, slamming her fist on the warp pad. "Warp warp warp warp _warp warp warp_ –"

Light erupted around them, and Ronaldo felt himself lift off the ground. He gasped, and through the light, he saw the Kindergarten fall away and vanish.

* * *

"What do we do now?" Steven asked, the remains of the device scattered on the counter in front of him.

Garnet hummed impassively, her arms crossed. The beach house was quiet as Pearl picked up one of the charred pieces, examining it closely.

"It's hard to tell, since it exploded," she said, "but I think it may have been a... warp stream rerouter?"

"I was afraid of that," Garnet said. "They must have gone to Homeworld."

"What!" Steven cried. "She can't do that! I thought you said there was no way for her to get back there!"

"I didn't think there was," Garnet said. "But Peridot is unpredictable, and my future vision can't see everything. She must have found a way."

"So we have to go after them!" Steven said, jumping up and standing on the stool. "We can't let her kidnap him and experiment on him or whatever she wants to do with Ronaldo!"

Pearl sucked air in through her teeth. "It's more complicated than that," she said. "We'd have to fix the device first, and the gem they used to power it was shattered in the explosion. We'd have to find a different power source, or risk having the gem we use be destroyed. And even if we did do all that..."

"Homeworld doesn't exactly like us, Steve-man," Amethyst said, lying on the couch. "It'd be really hard to go there and back without getting thrown in prison or worse."

"But what if something really bad happens to Ronaldo?" Steven protested. "We can't let that happen! We're the Crystal Gems, we protect humanity!"

Silence followed his words. Pearl exchanged an uneasy glance with Garnet.

"We have to talk to his family," Garnet said. "We'll figure something out."

"That's right," Pearl said. "Don't worry."

Steven frowned, still standing on the stool, until Pearl told him, "Please sit down before you fall over."

Garnet and Pearl left that afternoon to go see Ronaldo's family. Steven tried to follow them, but Amethyst caught him, and they ended up watching Crying Breakfast Friends instead. Steven couldn't focus on the show – it was a rerun, anyway – and his thoughts drifted to Ronaldo.

What had he been thinking? Steven knew that Ronaldo thought things differently from other people, but he still wondered. Had Peridot really kidnapped him? Or had Ronaldo gone willingly? And if so, why?

Whatever the answer, Steven hoped they would get him back soon.


	3. i don't want to live on this planet anymore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone on rpoamethyst asked me if I was gonna update this so Here I Am, With An Update. time for things to go rapidly downhill.
> 
> content warning for uh, idk, sapient beings being treated like literal garbage to be disposed of, because Homeworld Sucks

Ronaldo flailed around in the warp stream until Peridot grabbed him and positioned him upright. "Stop moving," she snapped. "You'll fall outside the warp stream and drift forever."

"Really?"

"Well, no. You're a human. You wouldn't drift forever, you'd just die."

That got him to hold still, or at least he tried to keep himself in the center of the stream. "...really?"

" _Yes,_ Ronaldo," Peridot said, sounding annoyed. "Outside the warp stream, it's too cold for humans, and there's not enough air. So yes, you would die."

"Oh," said Ronaldo.

"So stay –" Peridot cut herself off with a groan and grabbed him again. "Feet flat, so you land standing up. You don't want to fall on your face in front of the Homeworld authorities, do you?"

"Nnnooo..." Ronaldo did his best to stand up straight, which was difficult given that he was floating, not standing. Still, he managed to get himself in an upright position, and earned a nod of approval from Peridot.

"Good," she said. "Now stay like that until we reach Homeworld."

"How long will that take?"

"We'll be arriving any moment now." Peridot frowned. "Though it might take longer than usual since we used a warp bad that wasn't built for warps of this distance."

"How much longer?"

"Not much. Stop asking questions."

Ronaldo opened his mouth, about to ask another question, when abruptly, they were there.

He may have landed on his feet, but he hit the ground hard and staggered to the side, clutching Peridot's sturdy body to keep from falling over. Peridot hissed under her breath and Ronaldo quickly let go as soon as he regained his balance. Only then did he allow himself to look around.

They were inside a circle of golden pillars, a dazzling night sky above them. Inside the circle, there were warp pads of varying sizes, with circular designs etched into the stone around them. Out past the pillars, there were more structures, all the same golden color, reaching high up into the sky.

There were also many, _many_ gems, of various colors and sizes.

And they were _all staring at him_.

Peridot held out an arm in front of him, stopping him from moving forward even though he hadn't been thinking of doing so. "Stay close behind me," she said. "And keep quiet."

Ronaldo nodded, and followed Peridot as she stepped forward off the warp pad and down a carved staircase. His heart was pounding, and he felt lightheaded. Was there enough oxygen here? Peridot said there would be, right? No wait, she had said he would have to adapt – maybe there wasn't enough and she was just being optimistic?

A group of gems had started to form around them. Ronaldo could hear them chattering to each other, not bothering to keep their voices down – "What _is_ that?" "An organic creature?" "It's certainly not a _gem._ " – Peridot continued walking forward, her footsteps ringing in the air, until someone tall and broad-shouldered stepped out in front of her.

Peridot stopped. The gem in front of them was _huge_ , towering over her and Ronaldo, with thick, pale hair and dark gray skin, in a black uniform with a white diamond on its front, and she affixed Ronaldo with a glare that made him instinctively take a step back before she turned her gaze to Peridot.

" _You_ ," she snarled. "What is the meaning of this?"

Peridot straightened up, her arms stiffly by her side. "Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG, reporting in. My mission to Earth –"

"Oh, so this is a _human?_ " the gray gem said, gesturing with one hand at Ronaldo. A murmur rose from the crowd around them.

"Yes," Peridot said, her voice shaking. "As I was saying, my mission to Earth –"

"I don't _care_ about your mission," the gem interrupted. "I care about why you've brought this organic _thing_ here."

"I – I –" Peridot shrank under the gray gem's look. "I – he was... useful to me in completing my mission and – and in returning to Homeworld. I –"

The gem held up a hand to stop her, and Peridot stopped. Keeping an eye on Ronaldo, the gem reached into her uniform and took out a thin gray rectangle. "Facet 2F5L, cut 5XG? Let's see what your manager has to say about you."

Peridot flinched, her whole body tense. Ronaldo reached out a hand to put on her shoulder in – comfort? Reassurance? Something? – but decided against it and drew his hand back.

"Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG," the gray gem said loudly. "Acceptable work, mostly in maintenance, follows the rules, doesn't seem smart enough to get away with breaking them... fairly average, for a Peridot, _except_..."

The gem looked over Peridot, running her eyes up and down her body. "'Recently,'" she read aloud, "'she built some bizarre contraptions she calls _limb enhancers._ They make her bigger, as if she wants to be a _Quartz_ or a _Diamond_.'"

"I would _never_ –" Peridot exclaimed, and cut herself short. The gem cracked a smile.

"'I was worried the other Peridots would follow her example,'" she continued, "'but none of them want to be associated with her. They can't seem to stand her. Makes sense, I can barely stand her myself. It's almost too bad. She's loyal and good enough at her job that there's no reason for me to get rid of her.'"

Peridot was quiet. Ronaldo could only imagine what was going through her head. His own thoughts were filled with doom and dread; Peridot had told him that she would have to explain her reasoning for bringing him here, but she had barely managed to get a sentence in. What did that mean for _him?_

The gray gem looked over the device some more, tapping it with a finger. "Says here that you went to Earth with a ship and an escort. Where are they?"

"There are _gems_ on Earth!" Peridot blurted out. "They – they destroyed the Red Eye we sent, so we had no warning – they've destroyed all my plug robonoids, and they destroyed the ship! They're the reason I was nearly stranded on Earth! They –"

"Oh really," the gem said. "Do you mean the Crystal Gems?"

Peridot nodded emphatically. "Yes! They –"

The gem burst out laughing. "Do you really expect me to believe that?" she said. "The Crystal Gems are all _dead!_ " They've been dead since the war ended!"

"But I saw them!" Peridot cried. "When I attempted to access the Kindergarten control room from Homeworld – they were there! I filed a report!"

"Listen." The gray gem stepped forward. Peridot took a step back and nearly bumped into Ronaldo. "You failed your mission, and now you're looking for excuses. I get it."

"I didn't fail, I –"

"You _failed_ ," the gem said forcefully. "You lost the ship, you lost your escort –" She gestured to Peridot's short leg. "– you lost your _foot_. And then, on top of everything else, you bring a _human_ to Homeworld, threatening our security."

"He's not –"

"I don't want to hear it," the gem interrupted. "Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG, you are _fired_."

Peridot stammered unintelligibly before she was able to say something coherent. "I – I – I'm _fired?!_ You can't –"

"I am a high-ranking Smoky Quartz," the gray gem snapped. "I have the authority to take whatever action I deem necessary to protect Homeworld security. I will inform your manager that she won't have to deal with you anymore. Now step aside _._ "

Peridot glanced back at Ronaldo, her face full of despair. "What –"

" _Step aside._ I'll take care of this."

"Wait," said Ronaldo.

The crowd gasped, and Ronaldo winced. He had forgotten they were there, forming a circle Peridot, himself, and Smoky Quartz. There was nowhere for him to run, if things went even worse than they already were. "I mean," he continued in a shaky voice, "what are you gonna do with me?"

"So you can _talk_ ," said Smoky Quartz. "Well, you'll find out soon enough."

She pushed Peridot to the side, causing her to stumble backwards and topple over. Ronaldo moved to help her up, but Smoky Quartz grabbed his arm with a grip so tight he yelped in pain. "You're coming with me," she said.

"Wait –" Ronaldo tried to pull away, but Smoky Quartz dragged him forward, the crowd parting before them. He looked backwards at Peridot, who was still lying on the ground, not looking at him. "Peridot, what's gonna happen to me? Peridot? Peridot? _Peridot!_ "

Smoky Quartz dragged him to a warp pad and warped them away.

* * *

Ronaldo didn't land on his feet the second time he warped. Smoky Quartz pulled him roughly to his feet before moving again, taking long strides that Ronaldo had trouble keeping up with. They had warped outside a large building, this one colored a bright white that hurt his eyes to look at, with doors that slid open as they approached.

There were more gems inside, who stared in shock as Smoky Quartz dragged Ronaldo past them. Some audibly gasped. Ronaldo heard one exclaim, "What in all the stars –"

"Nothing to see here," Smoky Quartz said loudly. "I'm taking care of it. Out of my way!"

She turned down a hall and through another door. There were a line of gems queued in front of a window, who turned their heads to look at their entrance. Ronaldo felt all eyes on him, and he shrank back, trying to hide behind Smoky Quartz.

Smoky Quartz went straight to the front of the line, to the obvious dismay of the gems behind them. "Hey!" one yelled. "You can't cut!"

"Those awful Smokies think they're so much better than every other Quartz," someone else grumbled – a tall gem, the size and shape of Smoky Quartz, but this one orange with dark stripes. "Just forget it, the quicker she's gone, the better."

Smoky Quartz gritted her teeth and slammed her fist on the counter. "Hey, Alabaster!" she shouted. "I need clearance for the lower levels."

The white-haired gem behind the counter didn't even look up, writing on a holographic screen in the same written language Ronaldo had seen Peridot use. "Go back and wait in line like everyone else," she said.

"It's an emergency." Smoky Quartz yanked Ronaldo up to the counter. "Some Peridot brought a human here, and I need to dispose of it."

"You need to _what?!_ "

Smoky Quartz ignored Ronaldo's exclamation. Alabaster glanced up briefly, then looked back down again.

"The lower levels aren't designed for organic life," she said.

"So? It won't matter."

"It will matter," Alabaster said. "Organic life is messy. You can't dispose of it like you can with a gem."

Smoky Quartz groaned while Ronaldo desperately tried to pry her fingers off his arm. "So what do I do?" she said. "I can't just dump organic life just anywhere, especially not a human!"

Alabaster looked up and leaned forward. "Would filing a report through the proper channels be too sensible for a Smoky like you?" she said.

The gems in line laughed. Smoky Quartz flushed dark gray. Alabaster returned to her screen.

"Hey," a voice said. Ronaldo looked behind him at the line to see a skinny gem near the back of the line with dark blue skin and a simple blue dress. About as tall as Ronaldo himself was, she looked tiny compared to the Quartz. "I'll buy the human for a hundred thousand credits," she said.

Smoky Quartz snorted. "Really? Don't Lazulis have better uses for their money?"

"A hundred thousand credits," the Lazuli repeated. "What do you say?"

"Obviously no," Smoky Quartz snapped. "The human is a threat to Homeworld security. I can't let some ordinary performance artist take responsibility for this thing!"

Lazuli shrugged. "Two hundred thousand."

Smoky Quartz growled and didn't say anything for a moment. Finally, she responded: "Three hundred thousand."

"I will take full responsibility," Lazuli said. "You will never see the human again. It will be as if this never happened. And five hundred thousand credits."

"Deal."

Abruptly, Smoky Quartz let go of Ronaldo's arm and shoved him towards Lazuli, who gracefully stepped forward and caught him as he stumbled. "Careful," she said, standing him back up. "I wouldn't want you to break after I paid half a million credits for you."

"Uh, okay," said Ronaldo.

Lazuli smiled and turned back to Smoky Quartz, taking the gray rectangular pad that was thrust towards her. She wrote a few quick characters with her finger and handed it back. "Done," she said.

"Yeah, yeah," Smoky Quartz grumbled. "Don't make me regret this."

She tucked the device back inside her uniform and stormed out of the room. Once the door closed behind her, Alabaster sighed. "Glad that's over with," she said. "Next in line, please."

A short red gem stepped forward to the window and stood on the tips of her toes to peek out from below the counter. As she spoke to Alabaster, Ronaldo looked at Lazuli.

"So, uh," he said nervously. "What happens now?"

Lazuli took his arm, running her fingers over the bruises from where Smoky Quartz had grabbed him. "I need to get my performance license renewed," she said. "Be patient."

"Okay," Ronaldo said. He waited, feeling Lazuli's thin little fingers press into his skin, acutely aware of how every gem in the line was staring at him, and wondering what would become of him now.


	4. i don't want to talk about it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> full disclosure: this fic is like therapy for me. I work on it mostly when I'm feeling bad bc it makes me feel better. so, uh, expect... maybe not frequent updates but like, I might update it more than I update my other fics probably.
> 
> also I started naming the chapters. chapter titles come from http://www.googlepoetics.com/
> 
> anyway, ronaldo doesn't even appear in this chapter??? but here it is.
> 
> content warning for abuse

Pearl and Steven went to the Fryman's shop late that afternoon. Mr. Fryman was just closing up when they arrived. "Hey, Steven," he said, looking up as they approached. "Want some fry bits before we close?"

"Um, not today," Steven said. "There's, um, something we've gotta…"

Pearl pressed her hands together. "There's something we need to tell you about Ronaldo," she said.

Mr. Fryman frowned. "Did he do something? Get in trouble? He's been acting strange for a while now. Well, stranger."

Peedee appeared at the window, looking past Steven and Pearl at the empty boardwalk behind them. "Where is he?" he asked.

"That's part of what we'd like to talk about," Pearl said.

"Did something _bad_ happen?" Peedee looked at Steven. Steven averted his gaze.

"Why don't you two come inside," Mr. Fryman said.

* * *

They all sat down at the kitchen table. Steven stared at the wooden surface while Pearl explained what they had seen.

"We think Ronaldo got involved in gem business," Pearl began. "We caught him with a gem we've been chasing for a while now."

"But aren't you gems?" Peedee interrupted. "Steven says you protect humanity, right?"

Pearl took a deep breath. " _We_ do, but other gems..."

"She was on the spaceship that came to Earth back when everyone had to evacuate the city," Steven said. "And, uh, we're pretty sure they were here to do bad things back then."

"Right," Pearl said. "He didn't appear to be harmed, though, and though we don't know the details, they seemed to be working together."

Mr. Fryman inhaled sharply. "He's been skipping work for the past few weeks," he said, "and yesterday he told me he was going to meet a girl, but didn't tell me anything about her when he got back. Avoided the question. Well, I'm going to have a real talk with him once he – where is he?"

Pearl closed her eyes briefly, clasping her hands together. "Peridot took him off-planet," she said bluntly.

Peedee and Mr. Fryman stared at her. "Off-planet," Mr. Fryman said. "You're joking."

"We didn't think she would be able to," Pearl said. "But the warp led right into space."

"You can get him back, right?" Peedee's voice shook. "He's not _gone_ , is he?"

"We will do everything we can," Pearl said. "But... if they went where we think they went, there might not be much we can do."

"But there's gotta be _something_ we can do," Steven said. "We'll get him back! Right, Pearl?"

Pearl didn't look at him. "Kids," she said. "Can you wait outside for a bit?"

"No!" Peedee said loudly. "Dad, tell her –"

"I think Pearl's right," Mr. Fryman interrupted. "This might be a grown-up's talk."

Steven got down from his chair and put a hand on Peedee's shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "We can –"

"It's not okay!" Peedee shoved his hand away. "Ronaldo got – got _abducted_ by an _alien!_ Nothing about that is okay!"

He stood up on his chair and glared at Pearl. "You've got to get him back!" he shouted, tears welling up in his eyes. "That's what you're supposed to do! You shouldn't have let this happen, you –"

"Calm down, Peedee," Mr. Fryman said sharply. "That's enough. You and Steven should leave us alone for a few minutes."

"Don't you even _care,_ Dad?!"

Mr. Fryman slammed a hand on the table, startling all three of them. "Of course I care, Peedee! He's my _son!_ Even if –"

He caught Steven staring at him with wide eyes and stopped himself. "Peedee," he said. "Please, you should leave us alone. I'll call you back in when we're done."

"Fine!" Peedee got off the chair and stormed out of the room. After a moment's hesitation and one last glance at Pearl, Steven followed him.

Peedee slammed the back door open and didn't bother to close it behind him. Steven closed it carefully, then went and sat with him next to the dumpster. They sat in silence for a while, Peedee hiding his face behind his knees.

"I can tell you what happened, if you want," Steven said nervously.

"You were there?" Peedee said without looking at him.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Um..." Steven looked away. "We didn't see them until they were on the warp pad, and then Peridot started shooting at us. Well, she shot once. We couldn't attack her in case we hurt Ronaldo, and then they warped before we could get close to them."

Peedee took a deep, shuddering breath and looked up at him. "It's okay," he said. "Just... is it true that they were working together?"

"I don't know," Steven said. "That's what it looked like, but..."

"Do you think he wanted to leave?"

"Of course not!" Steven said immediately. "Ronaldo would never want to leave you and your dad like this!"

"Ha." Peedee pressed his face back against his knees. "You really don't know him like I do."

Before Steven could ask him what he meant by that, Pearl opened the door and called them back inside. "Steven, we're leaving."

Steven helped Peedee up, and the two of them went back in. "I'm going up to my room," Peedee said, and he walked away before his dad could stop him.

Mr. Fryman sighed. "He's a tough kid," he said. "He'll be okay. Thank you for letting me know about this."

"It's fine," Pearl said awkwardly. "And... I'm sorry."

* * *

Eventually, Peridot picked herself off the ground. Standing up, her legs wobbled like the first time she had put on her limb enhancers, unsteady and unsure.

There were still gems staring at her. She had to get out of here.

Peridot took one step forward with her short leg, then one step with the other. Just walk, she told herself, forcing herself to move forward despite having no destination in mind. She just had to get out of _here_.

She found herself at the same warp pad Smoky Quartz had taken Ronaldo to. There she paused, a strange emotion overcoming her. Was it regret? Guilt? It didn't matter. Ronaldo could have been useful to her, but now he would have to be useful to someone else.

Going after him didn't even register as an idea in her head; she had no idea where they went, after all. Instead, she warped to the first place she thought of: her home district.

She had only started thinking of it as home when she was stuck on Earth. So what if the Steven and the Crystal Gems had their home? She had a home, too! A cramped housing unit with a common area that she shared with five other Peridots, but it had a door that locked and was keyed to her energy signature, so no one else could enter without her permission. She was _safe_ there.

The way to her housing complex hadn't changed. She followed the familiar path through the golden-yellow buildings, ignoring the gems who glanced suspiciously at her. She knew she must look a mess; her limb enhancers were scuffed and dirty and _broken_ , and she felt no better.

No. No! Peridot screwed up her face and stood up as straight as she could. She was Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG, and she had succeeded in every mission her manager had assigned her thus far, and... and...

"Acceptable work," the Smoky Quartz had said. "Fairly average, for a Peridot."

Peridot winced visibly, and nearly stumbled in the street. This was fine. Average wasn't bad, it only meant she wasn't anything... special. That was good, it was good not to stand out.

"Recently, she built some bizarre contraptions she calls _limb enhancers_."

Her manager had confiscated the limb enhancers when she had first gone into work wearing them. Peridot had pleaded for them to be returned to her, and when they finally were, they had clearly been taken apart and messily put back together. Her manager had allowed her to wear them after that. Which was... good. She would never have been given permission if she wasn't loyal and good at her job.

"It's almost too bad. She's loyal and good enough at her job than there's no reason for me to get rid of her."

Her manager hadn't been waiting for a chance to get rid of her. That was impossible. That was _irrational_. She hadn't done anything _wrong_.

"You _failed_. Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG, you are _fired_."

Peridot stumbled and caught herself against a wall. She quickly looked around to see if anyone was nearby, saw nobody, and let herself collapse to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest.

She wasn't going to be okay, she realized. Gems who were fired lost their housing units, their source of income, and any protection they had from the authorities. Alone and jobless, she would be a target for criminals and defects, and no one would do anything to help her.

She had to do something.

Peridot stood up again, hating herself for the momentary show of weakness, even if no one was around to see it. Step by step, she walked back towards the warp pad, her mouth set in a hard line.

Her manager would understand, surely. She would give her mission report and explain the situation, and her manager would sort things out. At the very least, it would be a shame to lose an employee such as Peridot, wouldn't it?

A brief flash of a memory arose in her mind – _a hard slap across the face, a foot holding her down_ – and Peridot winced without fully comprehending why she was afraid.

* * *

It was easy enough getting into the building, but once she was there, Peridot began running into problems. The Smoky Quartz guarding her manager's door had to look her up when Peridot told her who she was, and then she tried to turn her away. "You don't work here anymore," the Smoky snapped. "Go away."

Peridot stood her ground. "I am here to give my mission report."

"Didn't you hear me? Leave before I make you."

"I am here to give my mission report."

"What's there to report? You _failed_."

She could do this all day, Peridot told herself. It wasn't as if she had anything else to do. All she had to do was talk to Zircon, her manager, and then everything would be okay again.

"I am here to give my mission report," she repeated.

"If you don't –"

The door slid open, startling them both.

Compared to the Smoky Quartz, Zircon wasn't particularly big, but she still made Peridot feel very, very small. She had pale yellow skin and white hair, with a large gold diamond on her white uniform's chest. She narrowed her eyes at Peridot, who shrank under her gaze. "Quartz," she said. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm trying to get her to leave," the Smoky said.

"What is she doing here?"

Peridot found it within herself to straighten up. "I am here to give my mission report," she said, her voice shaking.

"Will you _shut up_ –"

"Your mission report," Zircon said. "The gem that fired you never requested it?"

Peridot shook her head. "N – no."

"Very well." Zircon turned around and gestured for Peridot to follow her. The Smoky grimaced, but stepped out of the way. Her limbs feeling like lead, Peridot followed.

When the door slid shut behind her, Peridot jumped at the sound. Zircon didn't seem to notice, sitting down in the chair behind her desk. "Your report," she said.

"Yes," Peridot said weakly. She cleared her throat and began.

She tried to start by describing her first visit to Earth, after her robonoids had repaired the Homeworld warp. Zircon stopped her a few sentences in. "I don't care about that," she said. "I care about the Cluster."

"But the _context –_ " Peridot squeaked.

"I _don't care._ Tell me the status of the Cluster."

"O – okay." Peridot realized she was cowering, making herself smaller – she straightened up as best she could before speaking. "The Cluster has progressed as expected," she said. "It is due to emerge by the next quarter, possibly earlier."

"Good. You may go."

Peridot stood there with her mouth open. Zircon turned away and pulled up a holographic screen, bringing up Peridot's file. "I will transfer your final paycheck to your account," she said. "Now go. I will have nothing more to do with you."

"But –"

Zircon affixed her with a glare. "What did you expect?" she said. "That I would take you back? You lost a ship, you lost your escort, your informant, and you had the _gall_ to bring a _human_ here. You have given me your report. Now leave."

"But I have more important information!" Peridot sputtered. "There are gems on Earth!"

"Really," said Zircon, in a tone of voice that made it clear she did not believe her.

"I'm not making it up!" Peridot said desperately. "I know the Crystal Gems are supposed to be dead, but there are still some left! They sabotaged my every action, I barely made it back without them stopping me!"

"Then file a report. Get out of my office."

"But –"

Zircon stood up. Peridot took a step back, but Zircon closed the distance between them and slapped her. Peridot didn't get a chance to recover before Zircon grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

"Listen to me," she said. "You have been utterly intolerable to dea with ever since you were assigned to me, and I can't imagine that any of your previous managers thought much better. Your _projects,_ your _ideas,_ your –" She gestured with her free hand at Peridot's limb enhancers. "– _this_. The only regret I have about your termination is that I won't be able to do this to you anymore."

She squeezed Peridot's throat, not enough for her to retreat into her gem, but a little more pressure – Peridot couldn't make a sound, could only dangle there, unable to fight back.

Zircon dropped her. Peridot crumpled on the ground. "Leave," Zircon said. "If you show up here again, I will have you broken."

Peridot got to her feet and left.

* * *

She could forget about getting her last paycheck. Even without it, Peridot told herself, she had enough credits in her account to afford her housing unit for another quarter. After that, well, she would have to find a way to survive.

Peridot rubbed her throat as she walked. Her recollection of the meeting with her manager was unclear, as most of them were, but she knew it had gone badly – and really, that was all she needed to know.

Her housing complex was close now. Peridot plodded down the street until she reached the door. Finally, she could get some rest. Pressing her fingers to the panel next to the door, as she always did, she waited for her energy signature to be scanned and recognized and the door to open.

The scanner buzzed. Peridot's eyes widened. She had been rejected.

At first, she wondered if this could be the fault of her limb enhancers – but no, she had specifically designed them to give off the same energy signature as her physical form. It must have been some sort of glitch with the scanner itself. Peridot told herself not to panic, activated the scanner again – buzz, the door remained closed.

"No, no, _no!_ " Peridot slammed her fingers against the scanner. Buzz. Rejected. "This can't be happening! _You can't do this to me!_ "

Consumed by her desperation, she didn't notice anyone coming up behind her until a hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams.


	5. are we predestined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Folks, I've had this chapter written for like, 2 months I just never posted it haha whoops.
> 
> uhh what else to say… idk, here have this chapter

It seemed to take hours before Lazuli got her performance license renewed. The other gems in line kept staring at him and whispering to each other, and Ronaldo kept thinking of one of the last things Peridot told him about Homeworld before they left – "Plenty of gems will want to kill you on sight." He tried to ask Lazuli how much longer it would take, but she just smiled and pressed a hand to his lips before he could get the words out.

"Be patient," Lazuli said. "Don't talk."

"But I –"

Lazuli frowned disapprovingly, and Ronaldo was suddenly reminded of his dad whenever he tried to share something he found with him. It was enough for him to stop talking. Lazuli seemed pleased by this, and she took her hand away.

They moved up slowly, Ronaldo feeling eyes on him the entire time. Even Alabaster, when they reached the front of the line, glanced at him as she wrote on her screen, presumably renewing Lazuli's performance license. He didn't know.

He didn't know anything about Homeworld, and the only person he trusted who would know anything wasn't there.

Ronaldo took a deep breath, his heart pounding. He would have to learn about Homeworld himself, then. He was no stranger to investigations, and it wasn't as if he was starting from nowhere. Back on Earth, Peridot had told him very little about Homeworld – but "very little" was still _something_. He would find a way to survive. It would be like the time he was eight and ran away from home, except this time his dad wouldn't find him and bring him back after two days.

The reality of the situation struck him like a thunderbolt. He was never going to see his dad or Peedee again.

"We're done," Lazuli said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Okay," said Ronaldo, his voice shaking. "What – what do we do now?"

Lazuli gently took hold of his arm and smiled at him. "You go to your new home," she said. "Come along."

The gems left in line stared at them as Lazuli led Ronaldo out of the room, and as they left, he heard Alabaster call the next one up, as if nothing had happened.

Ronaldo hadn't been able to really look at his surroundings when Smoky Quartz had dragged him here. Outside the building, there were more tall buildings all around, all colored in the same bright white. Ronaldo wondered if his eyes were getting used to the brightness, since it didn't hurt as much to look at. The building he had just come out of opened up into a courtyard with a warp pad in the center and a large fountain behind it. The sky was still dark and full of stars.

There was a huddled group of gems outside the building, just to the side of the entrance. They had been talking in hushed voices, but when Lazuli and Ronaldo started down the stairs, one of them pointed at them and they all hushed. Ronaldo kept sneaking glances at them while Lazuli quickened her pace; they were mostly small and red, with thick afros of darker red hair, but there were two that looked more like Smoky Quartz, big with untamed straight hair. Neither of them had the colors of the Smoky Quartz that had brought him there, though; one was dark orange with brown stripes, and the other was a light purple, unsettlingly similar to Steven's friend, Amethyst.

The Amethyst-looking one started towards him and Lazuli, who stopped walking. Ronaldo opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but Lazuli spoke before he could.

"Don't speak," she said. "Don't try anything."

"Okay," Ronaldo said.

"I said don't speak."

"Oh, sorry."

There was no time for Lazuli to scold him again because the gem was there, grinning down at the two of them. "Hey, Lazuli!" she said. "Why don't you and your friend come with us?"

One of the red gems shouted, "Yeah!" and was quickly shushed into silence by the others. Ronaldo swallowed hard. Lazuli frowned.

"Why?" she asked.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"You want me to go with you because it'll be…" Lazuli wrinkled her nose. "Fun."

Some of the other gems around them were starting to stare. A crowd was beginning to form. The purple gem glanced around, then leaned in slightly and lowered her voice.

"I want you to come with us because you have no idea what you're getting yourself into," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "You and the human need to come with us."

"And what if I don't want to?" Lazuli said. "What will you do then?"

The gem frowned at her. Lazuli frowned back. They stared at each other for a few moments until the larger gem straightened up. "Alright," she said loudly. "Time for plan –"

A wave of water washed over her before she could finish the sentence, knocking her over. Ronaldo yelped in surprise and took a step back, but none of the water even touched him. Before he could wonder why this was, Lazuli turned and grabbed him, slinging him over her shoulder.

"Whoa!" he shouted. "What –"

"Don't _speak_ ," Lazuli snapped, and she jumped into the air.

Water flowed off the ground and up into the air, collecting under Lazuli's feet. She landed on it with a splash, the water holding her weight. Upside-down, Ronaldo saw something he hadn't noticed before: a blue, teardrop-shaped gem embedded in Lazuli's ankle. He mentally berated himself for not being more observant, and then Lazuli jumped again, jerking him out of his train of thought.

The remaining group of red gems stared at them with their mouths open until the brown gem snapped at them. "Don't just stand there! We need the human!"

"Right!" one of the red gems shouted – Ronaldo couldn't see which one, Lazuli was adjusting her grip on him with every jump and it was disorienting. In the brief moment of stability he had when Lazuli landed on the next watery platform, he raised his head, squinting at the ground, and managed to make out the brown Quartz picking up one of the red gems.

"They're throwing themselves at us!" he blurted out. Lazuli paused before her next jump, just as the red gem came sailing through the air towards them. Ronaldo could see where the water was coming from now – the fountain by the warp pad. As he watched, a jet of water shot out of it and knocked the red gem out of the sky.

The next moment, his glasses had fallen off, and he barely managed to catch them before they fell to the ground below. Even without them, he saw the blurry shape of another red gem being thrown at them, but she didn't come high enough to reach them. Ronaldo could see the cityscape stretch out below, a patchwork of yellow, white, and blue districts. They were _really_ high up. How long could Lazuli carry him? He wasn't exactly the lightest human, and his backpack was pretty full. She didn't _look_ that strong.

"Um," he said, "where are we –"

"We are going to my housing unit," Lazuli said. "We won't be staying long. There's some things I need to get. Please stop talking now."

She had stopped jumping, and was now sliding on a water path that was continuously forming in front of her. The wind rushed past them, and all Ronaldo could think about was how disappointed his dad was going to be.

* * *

They were down to two Rubies, after she had thrown the other two at the Lazuli and the human. She was about to throw a third one when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough. We lost 'em, Tiger."

Tiger groaned. The Ruby she was holding let out a sigh of relief as she put her down. "Fine," Tiger said. "But _stars,_ Lavender, Nephrite's going to be _furious._ "

Lavender frowned and gestured to the crowd of shocked gems they had drawn. Tiger glanced around and nodded. "Alright," she said. "Move out."

"What about the others?" said one of the Rubies.

"They know how to get back. Let's go."

They walked briskly to the warp pad, the gems around them too slow to react and stop them. "Hey!" one of them shouted, but they had already gotten themselves on the warp pad and warped away.

"There's no way we can go back to Nephrite empty-handed," Tiger said during the warp.

"Well," Lavender said, rolling her eyes, "how do you suppose we go after a flying Lazuli?"

"Forget the Lazuli. I mean, yeah, we've got to get her and the human eventually, but we've already send a couple recruits to her housing unit." Tiger took out a infoscreen from her uniform and started tapping on it. The two Rubies floated up to her shoulders and peered at it with her. "A Peridot brought the human here," she said. "Let's grab her instead."

"We don't need the Peridot, Tiger –"

"You weren't there, Lavender," Tiger snapped. "When she first got to Homeworld with the human –"

"You weren't there, either, Tiger," one of the Rubies interrupted.

"Not the point. I know what happened. She was talking about the _Crystal Gems_. She says they're _still on Earth_."

"And she was _lying,_ " Lavender said bitterly, turning away. "There's no way the Crystal Gems are still alive, after all these years."

"Oh, stop being such a downer. All we need to do is grab her and ask her what happened on Earth. She'll probably be grateful. There's not much hope for a gem that's been –"

Tiger stopped suddenly, staring at her infoscreen. "Fired?" one of the Rubies said helpfully.

"That doesn't say 'fired,'" the other Ruby said, pointing to the screen, where the file for Peridot, facet 2F5L, cut 5XG was displayed. "That said 'shattered.'"

* * *

"Have you updated her file yet?"

"I'm not certain this is necessary. No one will be looking for a gem that's lost her job."

"You know the rules. Not your place to argue."

"I'm not arguing. But if someone figures out that none of these gems have been properly disposed of, they're going to ask questions."

They must have noticed she had reformed, but neither gem was looking at her. Peridot huddled in a corner of her cell, the golden barrier softly humming in front of her, too terrified to even think of making a sound, let alone ask what was happening. She had been kidnapped, her form destroyed, her limb enhancers stolen – or had they been destroyed? Peridot hoped they hadn't been, but where would hope get her?

The room outside her cell was cramped, with a desk and a holoscreen taking up half the space. The two gems were leaning over in front of it. One of them – an Alabaster, pale, short, and stocky – was typing into the holoscreen at a rapid pace. The larger gem next to her was most likely some sort of Zircon, like her manager, but a different color – one of the cyan varieties.  Peridot shuddered for no reason she could comprehend.

"There," the Alabaster said. "She's as good as shattered, according to the records."

They had hacked into her file, Peridot realized with horror. Now every gem that searched for her would find a file that said "shattered." No one would bother finding out what happened to her. Gems were shattered every day; what difference did one Peridot make?

It was enough for her to let out a pained sob.

She clapped a hand over her mouth the instant the sound left it, but it was too late; the Zircon looked back at her and frowned. "She reforms quickly for a Peridot," the Zircon said.

"Well, she's era two," the Alabaster said without looking back. "There's not much to form."

"True. Is this the first Peridot we've had?"

"Probably. Peridots are usually shattered, not fired. This one must've not been important enough to have any classified information."

"Brings back memories." The Zircon took a step towards the cell. Peridot scrunched herself further against the wall.

The Alabaster looked up. "You were a manager before this, weren't you?"

The word "manager" sent chills of fear through Peridot. For a moment, she thought back to her last meeting with her manager – but she was quick to squash the memory down until only the feelings remained.

The Zircon shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. But yes, I was. I've dealt with my fair share of Peridots in the past, but none since then."

"Wh – why –"

The look the Zircon gave her caused Peridot to squeak and go silent. Zircon walked closer to the cell, until she was right in front of the destabilization field. "I take it you don't know what's to become of you," she said.

Peridot was too terrified to respond.

"You've lost your job," Zircon said, "and you've lost your purpose. Here, we grant you an opportunity for a new life. A place to stay. Maybe even credits, if you earn them."

Lies, obviously. If they were giving her an opportunity, they wouldn't have _kidnapped_ her. Peridot stayed silent, staring up at Zircon with wide eyes.

"It's very simple," she continued. "You are to fight other gems, much like you, who have lost their purposes. The winners are rewarded. The losers are… not. More difficult than your previous life, to be certain – but you don't have much of a choice in the matter."

She stopped and turned away. "Your first match begins next turn," she said, walking back to the Alabaster. "Now –"

"W – wait!" Peridot stammered out. "You – you can't expect me to do this! I'm an _era two Peridot!_ I can't win in a fight!"

ZIrcon turned back to her and smiled.

"Well," she said, "I only hope your death entertains our audience."


End file.
